by Sophia Sharp
But those thoughts took up but a small portion of Nora’s mind. Most of it was completely drenched with fear. She didn’t want to imagine what kind of horrible things Serkhol and Borrak were going to do to her tonight. And there was no hope of escape. Not even the faint hope of the sweet embrace of death. She knew in her heart of hearts that her two captors would take great pain to ensure that she survived the night, to present her to the elders tomorrow.
Tomorrow, or the next day. Or maybe later. Would it become a game with them, seeing how long they could work on her before turning her over to the elders? She didn’t know when it would be, but now, in the darkest hour, wished desperately for that time to come. Because when it did, at least she would be free of Serkhol and Borrak.
Her mind kept working back to what those two would do. She imagined the grotesque creatures moving their hands all over her, imagined their deep, heavy breathing against her skin. Pleasures of the flesh, they called it, and for her, it was already a fate much worse than death. The memories of whatever happened tonight would haunt her for eternity. And eternity was precisely the length of time the elders would keep her alive for.
She didn’t know what was happening to her. Why wouldn’t her body work? Her eyesight was blurry and her strength completely sapped out of her. She inhaled deeply through her nose, expecting to find the dozens smells of the forest that she had grown so used to after her transformation. Except that she found…nothing. And it made her cry harder. Somehow, all her powers were gone. Poof, just like that, they were gone.
Could it be possible to somehow lose the effects of becoming a Vassiz? Lose all the powers and abilities that the transformation gifted you? She could think of no other explanation. She wailed even harder, her tears pooling against the cloth of her gag.
She felt a gust of wind in her face and looked up to see Borrak enter. He looked at her, with his hands held behind his back, and smiled.
“Serkhol prepared you well, girl,” he said, in that awfully incongruent voice. “I am quite looking forward to the engagement we have planned for tonight.”
The words should have made Nora feel more fear, feel more desperation, except that…they didn’t. She was already at the bottom of those negative feelings and couldn’t sink any lower. She lifted her head to meet his eye. If they were going to have their way with her tonight, she would not give them the pleasure of knowing her fear.
Borrak looked her up and down, slowly, so that Nora could feel his eyes trace every inch of her body. But she defied the fear she felt and kept her eyes right on his face. She found herself wondering just what kind of creature he was – this was no Vassiz in front of her, that was for sure. At the same time, she remembered one of them – Borrak or Serkhol, she wasn’t sure which – mentioning the elders.
He stepped closer and reached out to trace a finger against her bare stomach. She recoiled instantly against his touch – but then, the spikes against her back forced her to straighten.
His hands were cracked and leathery. And long, yellowing fingernails jutted out from the ends of each finger. Borrak continued moving his finger up, up, until it slithered along Nora’s neck to rest underneath her chin. Nora shivered involuntarily, but kept her eyes on him.
Borrak craned his neck to one side to regard her. He tsked to himself. “Well now,” he said quietly, “none of this will be any fun unless I hear what you have to say.” He reached around Nora’s neck with both hands – bringing his face dangerously close to her own – and quietly undid the rag in Nora’s mouth. Just as he was about to pull it off, he stopped. “And please,” he said in an amused tone, “no spitting this time.” He pulled the gag away.
Nora gasped for air. The filthy rag tasted absolutely revolting, and having her mouth free of it was a much welcome change. She worked her jaw, which was stiff from the slap she received earlier, and then stared defiantly at Borrak.
“I’m sure you have questions,” he said leisurely, turning away to place the rag on top of the pile of Nora’s clothes. “So please, feel free to ask. I promise to do my best to answer.” He turned and smiled at her. It was a sickening smile.
Nora blinked. Was this some sort of trick? Was he playing with her somehow? And could one of her questions lead to the start of…whatever Borrak had planned for tonight? She pushed that thought down.
“Come now,” Borrak said sweetly, “there’s no reason for you to be shy. I’m sure you’re absolutely dying to know how we managed to capture you and all your friends. I’ve heard your group has had some pretty good success so far when it came to facing…adversaries. And after all, there were only two of us. And four of you.” He smiled again, but this time Nora thought he did so…proudly?
She blinked. Was he boasting to her, of all things? Why? She was a prisoner to him and Serkhol – what good could it possibly be to gloat to her? But then again, if that was his personality…
She realized she had just been given an advantage – however small – that she might be able to turn into something bigger. If Borrak was truly as vain as he just implied, she might be able to get him to reveal some things about her capture. In understanding how they did it, she might yet find a way to escape.
“Who are you?” Nora made her voice shake, on purpose, to play up every bit the role of the lost, scared schoolgirl. To make him feel even better about himself. “I’ve never come across…anyone…like you before.”
Borrak smiled again, showing those moist and rotting teeth. “Who am I? As good a question as any. But first, let me ask you this, girl. Does my appearance repulse you?”
Nora’s eyes widened in surprise. How could she answer him without offending? There was no way Borrak didn’t know what he looked like, and there was no way he could possibly be unaware of the fact he was hideous. To pose the question to her…it had to be a test. A test of how she would answer. Truthfully, or not. She couldn’t hide her disgust, and there was no way to soften the truth. But at the same time, she remembered that false sense of pride he showed just seconds earlier when prodding her to ask him about her capture. It was likely that he relished the fact he could repulse her.
“Yes,” Nora admitted shyly. She had to be shy, now, to work on his pride. She turned her eyes to the floor. “Yes, it does. Very much so.” The last sentence came out as barely a whisper.
“Hah!” Borrak closed the distance to her and thrust his hand out to close on her neck. He lifted her head up toward him. She shied away, closing her eyes – very intentionally, because she knew it was what he wanted to see – until she could feel his hot breath on her face. It stunk, worse than the rancid rag that had been forced into her mouth. Worse than an overflowing sewer on a sweltering summer day. Worse than…well, anything. “Look at me, girl. Look at me!” Spittle flew into her face, landing on her nose, her cheeks, and just above her eyes. Shyly, slowly, she turned her head up toward him and opened her eyes.
He was staring right at her. Those disgusting whiskers tickled the area just to the side of her mouth, and his blotchy skin seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat. There was an intensity she felt from his gaze, perhaps even a…desperation from him.
“Yesssss,” he crooned softly, still gripping her neck in that iron grip. “You’re not one to lie. You think I’m disgusting, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Nora admitted, trying to turn her head away. This had to be what he wanted.
“You think I am hideous, revolting, gut-wrenching, nauseating, and absolutely sickening. Don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, little girl, I was not always like this.” He released her neck, and stepped away. Nora audibly gasped for breath.
“Once, many years ago,” he continued, his voice taking on a reminiscing tone, “I would have been considered among the most stunning men to walk this earth. I was more handsome than either of your companions. Even better than both of them combined. The radiance of the sun and majesty of this earth paled in comparison to my glorious figure. When women’s eyes fell on my face,
their hearts would melt, and their minds became putty for me to play with. They would lose themselves in my elegance, my beauty. My being.”
Nora goggled at him. Was he telling the truth? By his voice, it certainly sounded like he believed it. But it couldn’t be the case…could it? He kept going.
“I stood high above any of the Vassiz. My majesty could not be matched. I was worshipped by many, and desired by all. There was not a woman who could say no to me. But now? Now I repulse them all!” He barked a laugh. “Even one as innocent, as sweet as you. But that won’t matter later tonight, not with you in your current…situation.” He smiled at her with hungry eyes. “But I digress. My figure, my form, my appearance was not something God-given to me. No, no. Rather, it was something I bought. And the price I paid for all those glorious years has finally come about. Every debt must be settled, after all. What you see before you is the price I paid.”
None of it was making any sense to Nora. A price? How could one just buy beauty? And why was he telling her all this? Maybe it was all a fantasy he made up. Maybe he was insane. Yet, he was coherent enough in communicating. “What do you mean?” she asked finally. “Who are you?”
“I am but a humble servant,” Borrak said, bending one knee to her in a mock bow. Something about those words tugged at Nora’s memories, but she couldn’t put it together. “Now, my role is simply to obey the orders I am given.”
“Orders? Whose orders?”
“Why, the elders’ orders, of course,” he said tantalizingly. He motioned around himself. “All this is their work, you must surely know. Well, that’s not entirely true. Me and my brother had a large part to play in setting it all up.”
His brother? Did he mean… Serkhol? But then, who else could it be? And what was their connection to the elders? Neither of these creatures, these warped monstrosities of men, could possibly be related to the Vassiz. Could they?
“Who are you?” Nora asked again.
He looked at her. “I have told you who I am, girl. If you don’t have anything else you want to say, I can end this exercise right now. It’s not often our prisoners are given the opportunity to speak…” He looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to add something. That confirmed the suspicion in Nora’s mind. He was boasting to her. And he wanted her to appeal to his vanity. “No? Nothing more?” He started to turn away, slowly, all but begging her to ask him more.
“Wait!” Nora exclaimed. “There is something else I want to know.”
“Oh?” Right away, Borrak was fully turned back to her. “And, pray tell, what is that?”
Nora swallowed. She had to be careful to formulate the question correctly, lest it push him away again. “Who…were you?” she asked finally. He seemed to enjoy reminiscing about his past, otherwise he wouldn’t have brought it up so often. To a prisoner, as he so eloquently put it.
“Ah. A good question, that.” He put his hands behind his back and slowly began to circle around Nora. “Who I was, was nothing more than a man. Born like any other, I set out in my youth to be a great adventurer. I wanted to see the world, to discover secrets and uncover long forgotten things. Little did I know how that desire would affect my future.
“We were both in our early thirties when we made the discovery. On one of our expeditions, we were exploring the ruins of a long-gone civilization. There was a cave, and like any adventurers, we went in. That was where we found two ancient relics. They glowed, in a fluorescent blue, unlike anything either of us had seen before. And these relics called to us. They called to me. It was like they wanted to be picked up, wanted to be used.
“We packed both of the relics in our bags and set back. We thought either of them would be worth a fortune in gold, and our minds were set on selling both of them. However, on the way back, something happened that changed us forever. That night, when I slept, I was…transported…into another world. A world where anything at all was possible. I found my brother there, as well. The world was magical, it was majestic…and yet it mirrored the one I knew so well.” The dream realm? Was that what he was talking about? “You see, the relic led me to it, me and my brother. It was a great fantasy. We could do whatever we wanted there, be whoever we wanted to be. You cannot imagine the power we felt there!” It was the dream realm! But…why did he think she could not imagine it? Surely he knew she could access it?
“It was magnificent and all encompassing. When we awoke that morning, all thought of selling the relics disappeared. The entrance to that world was a retreat from the harsher, much crueler one we lived in. Soon, we became seduced by its power, and every time we went there, we called it more and more. What began as nightly visits slowly extended into days, and weeks. Our bodies here began to decay from neglect, but there, we were all powerful. We could form the world to our image, where everything we wanted was granted to us.
“So we kept going. Soon, we began to live almost entirely in that other world, neglecting this one completely. We did it more and more, until, unexpectedly, we stumbled upon a little secret.
“You see, the relics that gave us access to the world could also be used to bring things back from there. We started with small things, at first, like gold coins and extravagant clothes. But there was more that both of us yearned for, something that was missing in real life. You see, in this secondary world, we could be whatever we wanted to, but in the real world – well, reality was not so kind.
“That was when I got a brilliant idea. What if we could experience everything that we were in that world, here? In reality? How would we go about doing so? The answer, of course, became quite clear to me. To have everything each of us ever desired, we would have to become the most desirable, the most beautiful men on earth.” Nora frowned. How could he think things to be so simple? “Yes, that was the key to it all. Therein lay the power of seduction. We could break free of the restraints of using the relics and live in reality…yet take the best parts of the secondary world with us.
“And so we went in again, intent on changing our appearance. Carefully, we molded each other’s skin, modified the facial features in line with the most beautiful sculptures and paintings ever made. We perfected our bodies, our faces, there – as an artist would paint man with brush strokes, we too painted ourselves in the image of becoming God-like.
Borrak’s eyes grew dark, and his tone became heavy. “What we did not know, however, was that the entire time, we were being watched. By other beings – those who travel to that world frequently. Beings we did not even know exist. We were young, careless, and stupid.
“The trip back from that world was painful, as it always was, but because of the changes we had made to ourselves, it was even worse. For weeks after returning, my brother and I were sick in our beds. We lay comatose while nightmares haunted our dreams. I remember them to this day. They were much worse, much more macabre than anything you fear might happen to you. These were nightmares that scarred the mind and turned you forever into another person. Nightmares that gave no respite and offered no escape. Nightmares that poison the mind.
“But then we awoke. And with great delight, we saw that we were successful. When we returned from that world, we found our appearances completely changed – completely shifted, if you will – to exactly what we made ourselves to be in the secondary world. My brother and I…we became the most perfect humans to have ever walked the earth.
“However, when we awoke, we also discovered a rather unpleasant surprise. The relics were missing. We were told a visitor came, a stranger, and took away the relics. But we had no use of them anymore – we had gotten what we needed. We got what we wanted. We were both young, we were both desirable, and we were rich with the gift of youth and beauty.
“We took advantage. Oh yes, at every chance we got, we took advantage. Every woman we saw fell straight into our laps. Two, three, four at a time. It was wondrous.
“And it continued that way for years. Age did have an effect on us, but not at the same speed as on anybody else. It…slowed d
own, for whatever reason. Ten years flew by, and it was like only ten months had passed. There was no difference in our appearance. Twenty years passed. Thirty. Forty. And still, we did not change. It was fifty years to the day of our return that we got the visit.”
Nora frowned again. The way he said that, he made it entirely ominous.
“Yes. For you see, we were not alone for those fifty years. We were being watched by the ones we now serve. They kept close tabs on us, and saw everything we ever did. And finally, after fifty years of allowing us to run free, they came to reveal themselves as the holders of the secondary world. Of the other domain.”
“And then what?” Nora asked. Despite everything, the story had her captivated. She had forgotten all about the points butting into her spine, about the cold air against her flesh, about her existence as a prisoner. This was important, and if she listened, she would know something about the elders that she doubted many others did.
“And then,” Borrak said slowly, “it was time to pay our price.” He smiled and drew a hand grandly over his face. “These other beings, they called themselves the elders. They said we had entered their world without permission and had used its power for our own glories. They came to remind us that nothing ever comes for free.”
“So…they did this? To you? How?”
“A curse,” Borrak spat. “One they put on my brother and me both. The only way to pay our debt was to swear eternal servitude to the elders. They could not forgive us for being more magnificent than them, no, not for mere men.” He spat the word. “Men were always supposed to be inferior. No matter what. To have taken the gifts offered by this secondary world for ourselves, to make ourselves more than them…it was a gift with an impossible price.
“And now what are we? Mere hounds for the elders. We are the ones they call when little things go awry.” He smiled at her disgustedly. “And, as you can tell, we get the job done well.”
